


How the Macaron Crumbles

by Raaj



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, But not entirely bleak, F/M, In which concealed identities cause a few more problems than they're worth, Partnership, Plagg Cares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 18:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12115113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: "I don't want to be Ladybug anymore."When Ladybug decides to end their partnership, all Chat Noir can choose is how gracefully to let it go.





	How the Macaron Crumbles

The window barely survived Adrien coming back home from patrol. He'd left it ajar to get back in--but only just slightly, so that Father would hopefully not notice if he happened to look in during the night. Adrien would have thought that after so many nights of sneaking out for patrol, he'd have his exit and entrance down to a science, but tonight, _tonight_ of all nights, the window had been stuck upon his return. He'd yanked at it, growled, sworn--he had never sworn once in his life until he needed to insult that window and its parentage through eight generations, at which point he had been ready to Cataclysm the forsaken thing when it had finally, finally come unstuck. He'd stumbled into his room, navigating through the dark to his bed. No point in turning the lights on when he was half-blind with tears anyway. The moment he released his transformation as Chat Noir, he fell into his bed and tugged the pillow up around to muffle both his mouth and his ears. His ears because he didn't want to hear whatever comment Plagg was going to make about his behavior; his mouth because he could still feel the scream building up in his chest.

To say that the night's patrol had gone poorly would be a massive understatement. The tears would not stop from his eyes: no matter how many he blinked out, they kept coming. A light weight coming to rest on his shoulder blades told him Plagg wanted his attention--was probably trying to tell him that if he kept up with this little breakdown, Hawkmoth would notice. Which he knew. He already knew that!

Adrien gathered up the energy to pull himself away from the now damp, disgusting pillow and suck down a deep breath. His lungs felt ragged after his mad dash home and the crying along the way, but he could do this. He could just focus on breathing and push all the pain down. He was used to disappointment. He was used to being hurt. So this was nothing new, right? He could deal.

Plagg spoke up then, the kwami's voice unusually soft, careful. "Kid, you're taking this way too personally. You've got to stop. Tikki's chosen do this sometimes. It's not the first time one of them has bugged out, and it won't be the last--"

The pun did it. It caught Adrien off-guard and he broke into a laugh. He laughed longer than the pun deserved, really; he wasn't sure if Plagg had even meant to make it. The longer he went, the more uneven his giggling turned as he ran out of air but kept laughing, caught in the hysterical paroxysm. His ribs ached, and that real, physical sensation of pain broke his last defense. He grabbed the pillow again, stuffed his face into it, and screamed until his aching ribs couldn't force any more air out.

_"Hey, Chat Noir? I...need to ask you something."_

_"I need you to help me find a replacement. For myself."_

_"I've already made up my mind. I can't do this anymore. I don't want to be Ladybug."_

That was that, then. The Lady would get what she wanted. It wasn't like he would make her do anything she didn't want to. Or could, even.

LB was going to leave, and he would...bear it. Just like he'd bore with other people leaving him.

Lucky he was used to it. That was the last thought Adrien remembered having before exhaustion drew him down into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a warning, chapters will either be short like this one, or they may be very spaced out at times. Work likes to be a slavedriver. I'm also not sure quite how many chapters it needs yet, though I don't anticipate this being very long (somewhere around 5-7 is my guess, but could be fewer if I pack it in).


End file.
